First Look: Google Pixel & Pixel XL

Published October 6th at 11:00am

Google has been producing smartphones since 2010 through their Nexus range. However, they never really ‘produced’ them in the literal sense, rather they were in charge of the concept, marketing and support of devices which ran their Android mobile operating system. Instead, the manufacturing was handled by third parties in Huawei, LG, HTC and Asus. However, Google has just released their newest offering - the Pixel and Pixel XL - and they say they’ve gone it alone for the first time. So what have they actually created here?

Despite the claim that this phone has been created in-house, it’s important to note that the Pixel and XL are actually physically put together by HTC. However, Google is keen to stress that it was fully responsible for the design of the device, and as such it is a ‘phone by Google’ - a message emblazoned onto the Pixel phones themselves. Now that’s cleared up, what kind of tech will you get if you buy the thing?

It’s to be expected at this point with Google’s smartphone offerings, but the Pixel is nothing to write home about in terms of hardware. It is a 5-inch phone (or 5.5-inch for the XL) with an 821 Snapdragon processor, a 1440 x 2560 display, up to 128GB of storage, and the same fingerprint reader on the back that was deployed on the last series of Nexus - which, admittedly, was extremely impressive. However, the rear camera scores an 89 in DxOMark, the highest rating ever for a camera phone. It’s got a 12.3-megapixel resolution with an f/2.0 aperture - Google claims that its got "the shortest capture time on any mobile camera ever."

So, besides the camera, it’s minor improvements rather than reinventing the wheel but that's fine because Google’s strong point is the software - after all, they did create the most widely used mobile operating system on the planet. It’s here that the differences begin to show.

The Software

The Pixel and Pixel XL ship with their own version of Android's Nougat and although on the surface the changes are minor, there is one extremely impressive addition. Its flagship feature is that it’s the first phone to include Google Assistant - a powerful AI question and answer bot that appears to draw its flexibility and awareness from Google’s other artificial intelligence endeavours in DeepMind. As well as extremely effective language recognition abilities, Google Assistant is also capable of understanding context - something that anyone frustrated with Apple’s Siri will welcome.

Additional Bits

> The Pixel handsets are the first phones to be compatible with Google’s Daydream VR headsets. This beautifully designed headset will ship in November for £69.

> Although the storage on the Pixel is limited to 32GB or 128GB, it will come with unlimited cloud storage for photos and videos shot on the handsets.

How Much?

The Pixel will cost £599 or £699 depending on which memory option you choose and likewise the XL will set you back £719 or £819.

When Can I Get One?

You can preorder the Pixel or Pixel XL right now - but it won’t ship until the 20th October.